#yqy: you still care about me right?? right????? RIGHT?????? XIAO JIU?????????

[chadlesbianjasontodd]

it’s really not fair that i gave myself brainrot for a ship that i think about two other people have ever cared about and where ‘being in love’ is not a positive emotion :/

[mxtxsblog]

SJ wasn't a monster to LBH.

I imagine you had noticed that I have a new baby, Shen Jiu.

Yes, I binged all SVSSS (the animation, not yet all the book) and the character I devote myself to he’s the character who appears for roughly 10 seconds. This is art.

Never fear, I will return to Xue Yang rants soon.

But anyway. I love love love love SJ and he 100% deserved better and if you don’t love him, I suggest blocking me.

Because I love my precious hateful baby and no, I’m not gonna stop.

So, SJ is not just a misunderstood villain, is THE misunderstood villain. I mean, all of his crimes were false (aside from his cruelty against LBH)!!!

Killing his martial brother? He was trying to save him! (a man who despised, humiliated, hurt him)

Going to brothels? For being able to sleep, FFS!

And so go on.

In the end, he was innocent or had excusable circumstances.

So I really want to take every accusation against him with a grain of salt, because the truth was (incredibly!) different.

And with all those lies, it’s interesting that no other student said that he was cruel against them, too.

So, I present you my theory (and I consider this canon): SJ wasn't a monster to LBH.

Yes, he was cruel. Yes, he mistreated and humiliated him. No, he wasn't a monstrous abusive scum.

(really broken emotional English under the cut)

In MXTX's novels harsh and physical discipline is expected and well-tolerated. Yes, SJ was way crueler than the norm (YQY told him about it, after all), but I don't think it was anything similar to what SJ had to suffer as a slave (or the petty cruelty that Xue Yang).

Proofs:

1- No other abused students. Strange, if SJ was so cruel.

2- Ning Yingying wasn't disgusted by the situation, only annoyed by the cruelness of the other boys. She even told LBH to go to Shizun to ask for help. Yes, she could be naive, but she was not a stupid girl.

3- LBH wasn't crippled, nor killed. If SJ really wanted to do this, he had the opportunity to do it.

4- All the peaks lords hated the demons. I have no doubt every one of them would have tried to kill LBH during the reveal.

5- At the start of the series, LBH doesn't hate/despise his shizun, even if he's living in poor conditions. So they weren't so poor?

6- The list of sufferings the system makes at the start isn't monstrous.

I'm not saying that SJ was right in his treatment of LBH! He was wrong, he abused his power and he was unfair! It was terrible, calling him a beast, not doing anything about the bullying, using lots of physical discipline, all of this.

But he wasn't a monster. He wasn't. What LBH did to him was disproportionate retribution (and how!!! Even canon said every sin against him was multiplied by 1000!).

If the tragic backstory of our villain protagonist woobie destroyer of the world, evil overlord, is "my teacher was mean to me", it really sucks. Overlord LBH is a disgusting torturer, petty, cruel, power-hungry. I really can't understand because so many people consider him justified. In universe, I can see it: a parody of violent protagonists loved by the readers.

I like overlord LBH! I love the beast. I love reading fics in which he is a monster. But I would never consider him good.

In a fandom that loves to villainy JC because he killed demonic cultivators (a rumor? self-defense? etc.), I'm surprised people love overlord LBH without irony but I didn't really expect anything better.

So, why in the world is LBH so hungry for vengeance? Why does he want to hurt hurt hurt (years of torment, right?) SJ? Why didn't he kill SJ and the hell with it? (as WXX did with the Wens who destroyed his home and killed his sect?) Why did he want to hurt him in a very personal way, reducing him to his plaything?

And no mistakes, LBH doesn't care about the other supposed crimes. Or yes, he cares because they are the proof that SJ was evil, his ticket to get a SJ to abuse torment torture forever. His reassuring that there was nothing good, nothing to save about his man. His tool to destroy SJ's reputation (even if he did have a poor reputation, to begin with).

I think it was because LBH was obsessed with SJ. Has always been, will forever be. A visceral heartbreaking soulcrushing mindsplattering obsession. So everything not good (so, everything) that SJ did to LBH, for him it was a critical point, please multiply x1000.

His cruelty, his neglect, his indifference, for many others would have been not so serious, in the end. But LBH's obsession made them the worst.

You don't torture destroy abuse a man for years if you didn't care for him. Just kill him. And what about when LBH told SJ he killed YQY?

LBH wasn't satisfied. Because he realized that SJ didn't lack a heart, he just didn't care for HIM.

And the extra when he meets a new Shizun? His reaction is not "Sick! A version of that bastard is married to a version of me, this really sucks!" but "Yes, Shizun, love me, fuck me, come home with me, be mine forever". Years after his SJ died, we have to guess. And STILL he's stuck in his obsession.

So yeah. I don't buy that SJ was a monster, but yes, he was wrong and he had to be stopped. But what LBH did to him was terrible and uncalled for.

(I am skeptical about the fact that SJ ordered his students to bully LBH. I really don't buy it, I think he simply didn't care it happened and was very harsh with him. But this is off the point).

In the end, LBH didn't care about right or wrong, he just wanted to possess SJ, and if he couldn't have him as a lover or a human pet, he would have had him as a plaything. That's all.

I think that if SJ wasn't cruel to him, but just didn't care about him, LBH would have been obsessed as well, maybe he would have kept him as a human pet to molest to his heart desire.

In the end, sure there are parallels between LBH and SJ's cruel situations.

But SJ was way way worse. For once, he was a slave, he couldn't escape, meanwhile, LBH could decide to go away anytime (and he didn't). I think SJ wanted him to go away because LBH really viscerally disgusted him, and so he hoped to drive him away. But LBH never did (and Xiao Jiu would have loved to be in his shoes and just go away).

Additionally, LBH was deeply obsessed with a man who was beautiful, elegant, interesting, but he didn't know almost anything about him. A sort of 1 d scum villain. If he had known the truth... I think this obsession would have multiplied (off cart, and it was already of the world). Because this wonderful broken man is even more interesting. I think he would have felt better to know he was in deep obsession with a so contradictory charming broken man. (So yes, all hail fics in which LBH discover the truth and it makes him even more obsessed).

To conclude: In the end, LBH became a monster, and SJ didn't.

To conclude 2: SJ suffered worse than LBH and went away saner (he wasn't, but LBH is worse).

[oddishblossom]

Thanks for answering my ask......if you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask your top 3 favorite characters from SVSSS? And your top 5 (or top 3) favorite moments from the novel? Sorry if you've answered this question before....Thanks....

Hi again! You just activated my brain rot, I’m literally obsessed with scum villain right now lol. It’s so hard to narrow it down to three characters so here’s my favorite six instead ☺️

6. Gongyi Xiao (my boy!!! he has so little screen time but for the time that he did show up, i was rooting for sqq to run away with him lol)

5. Sha Hualing (my favorite evil henchman omg. i love her character design so much. she may not have a lot to do but she’s beautiful and i adore her)

4. Liu Mingyan (she is soooo pretty. every time she’s on screen i’m like wow airplane really knew what he was doing when he created her. plus her hobby is hilarious! she’s living her best life and earning that cash money <3)

3. Liu Qingge (king of comedy over here! he’s such a good guy and super loyal and the powerful war lord of bai zhan but i think the guy’s so hilarious, too! i love his intense hatred of lbh lol. when asked where lbh is, without even hesitating lgq’s like “he’s dead” and then he gets yelled at by nyy and qi qingqi 🤣)

2. Ning Yingying (best girl!!! i literally love her! i know she started out as just a silly girl who’s always accidentally making trouble for those around her and destined to be lbh’s first wife, but i love how she grows out of that shadow and every time she stomps on mf’s foot or gets into a fight for shizun or talks back to lqg and lbh i’m so proud of her!)

1. Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (yes i’m cheating. but i love these codependent losers. i’m always switching between who’s my favorite character so i’m going to say both of them are. they are a set do not separate ❤️)

If you’d like to read about my favorite scenes click the read more :)

Unlike mdzs (which I’ve read 3 times and know scenes by heart) I’ve only read svsss once. I binge read it while the donghua was still airing and I’m slowly re-reading it right now. So it took a second for me to rank my favorite scenes. There were so many I wanted to include!! Like the scene where shen qingqiu kept trying to cover luo binghe with blankets but the man refused to stay hidden. Or the bing-ge vs bing-mei extra. Or the scene where luo binghe “only has enough money for two rooms” and shen qingqiu takes one room for himself and makes lbh share with liu qingge. But anyway, here’s my favorites.

5. The one where Shen Qingqiu gives his life for Luo Binghe after nearly qi deviating (Chapter 43). It took me a long time to root for bingqiu. But after the abyss, and seeing how sqq mourned for lbh, I was slowly starting to see these two in a different light. And when sqq gives his life to save lbh’s, I cried like a baby. That scene of lbh on the ground, surrounded by enemies, cradling his dead shizun in his arms as he cries and begs for forgiveness broke me. I was like that’s it! I don’t care if they’re “not healthy for each other,” I want them to be together! And then I was fully rooting for these two.

4. The scene where Yue Qingyuan reveals his backstory after he nearly dies on Maigu Ridge. This scene is very small but I had to include it. I’m a big fan of tragic irony, so when yqy reveals to sqq that the reason he doesn’t draw his sword is because it draws from his lifespan and it caused him to qi deviate all those years ago and this was the reason he was late to saving him, I was so heartbroken. Because here yqy is, learning the hard way that his impatience was a bad thing, and he’s finally telling his xiao jiu the truth but he is too late and his xiao jiu is gone. There is only sqq. We see this scene from sqq’s point of view and we get to hear the system’s hollow words ring out, congratulating him on his achievements, as a man is dying in his arms. The system’s presence alone reminds us that he is not xiao jiu. I felt so bad for yqy and that he never got closure with xiao jiu and because of that dreaded system, he will never learn that his xiao jiu is actually gone 🥺💔

3. The scene when Luo Binghe proposed to Shen Qingqiu. I have never been more fond of lbh than in this scene where he’s thinking about proposing to sqq and he becomes a total klutz! Spacing out in the middle of a conversation, tripping over thresholds, stuttering over his words. The way he trips and when sqq goes over to help him, he grabs his hand and asks if he’ll marry him. “Will you become family with me?” 😭❤️❤️❤️

2. The scene that takes place after Shen Qingqiu is tortured by the original LBH and looks into the original SQQ’s memories. The quiet moment he shares with Luo Binghe in the bamboo house. This was such a fascinating scene to me. Even though sqq refuses to think about how he feels for lbh, I think this was a moment he realized that he is not as indifferent to lbh as he says he is. He begs the original lbh not to stop hurting him, but to not hurt him while wearing that face. He sees the original sqq make lbh cry and even though it’s just a memory that he cannot touch, sqq tries to wipe lbh’s tears, hold him close, and tell him that he will never hurt him. It was clear as daylight to me that no matter what sqq said he loves lbh so much. And when he wakes up from such horrid visions and the real lbh asks him if he missed him, he nods his head. And lbh is so overwhelmed and kisses his eyelids and “your eyelashes are so long” and “you are the roundworm in my stomach” I literally CANNOT with this scene. How my dumb sqq didn’t realize he was in love astounds me.

1. The scene where Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu talk on Maigu Ridge and afterward. These two… are so bad at talking to each other. And I completely get it! Like, the system’s awful rules aside (preventing sqq from telling lbh why he hurt him in the abyss), there’s this mental image they have of each other that they can’t seem to get rid of. Sqq denying his own feelings and seeing lbh as either the heterosexual protagonist or his disciple who he will make decisions for. Lbh charging forward with his feelings and seeing sqq as both the cold, stoic peak lord he’s afraid of and the one person he loves who showed him kindness. There’s this disconnect. And shortly before the disaster on Maigu Ridge, sqq realizes that things would never have gotten so out of hand if he had just listened to lbh and talked to him. So once these two reach their literal worst point and sqq brings lbh’s consciousness back, they finally talk to each other as the world is collapsing around them. Sqq even returns the jade necklace he had kept hidden from lbh all those years ago. And when sqq is about to sacrifice himself (again) to save the world from xin mo’s destruction, he tries to get lbh to leave so that only one of them has to die. And that’s the thing: It is a good thing, sacrificing yourself so that the one that you love will live. It would’ve been healthier if lbh weren’t so codependent on sqq that he cannot live without him. But these two are always pushing aside each other’s wishes, not listening to what the other one wants. What lbh wants is to stay with sqq. And this time, sqq listens to lbh’s wishes and holds him tight. Afterward, when sqq wakes up in his home, he immediately asks about lbh and searches for him, wanting to follow him. He’s finally letting go of fear and chasing after what he wants, instead of what he feels he needs to do. And idk man. There’s something so nice about how they choose to stay by each other, even though they’ve gone through so much.

[delicioussshame]

Crime AU AU, YQY pov.

Xiao Jiu comes back limping.

Yue Qingyuan is instantly worried. Xiao Jiu usually moves with unthinking grace; the result of his upbringing. Something happened, for him to walk like this.

Yue Qingyuan finds himself grow cold. This isn’t Shen Yuan’s doing. No matter how heated things got between those two, it never came to blows. No, this has Luo Binghe written all over it.

Yue Qingyuan will rue that he didn’t accompany them that fateful day until he dies. If he’d been there, he’d have taken out Luo Binghe before Shen Yuan had noticed him, because that was what Xiao Jiu would have wanted.

Back then, he’d privately thought that it was good that Shen Yuan had tagged along. The child that Luo Binghe had been was innocent. Killing him was a waste. Time appeared to prove him right: he grew into a fine second for Shen Yuan.

Now, he can’t help thinking that all their lives would be easier without Luo Binghe. He single-handedly undid all the work Yue Qingyuan put in his biological father’s assassination and the following dismantlement of their family. He made them look foolish, sheltering the only child of their most hated rival.

But most importantly, he stole Shen Yuan and teared the twins apart.

Yue Qingyuan analyses the situation. Trying to offer comfort when Shen Jiu doesn’t want it will only end up in him being thrown out after a few choice words. He won’t be able to convince Shen Jiu to tend to his injuries properly that way.

Yue Qingyuan’s thoughts on the matter come to a halt when Shen Jiu shrugs off his shirt.

Yue Qingyuan had never expected to be Shen Jiu’s one and only. His Xiao Jiu cared too much about his legacy not to eventually marry, or at least procreate. He would also probably have looked for an alliance that would have strengthened the family, but now, he can’t possibly upstage his brother that way.

Shen Jiu keeps his affairs away from him, and Yue Qingyuan doesn’t ask.

Usually. Shen Jiu has never come back with handprints like those marring his hips, or bite marks this deep on the side of his neck. Not to mention another explanation comes to mind for the limp.

Yue Qingyuan leaves the sofa he was waiting on to get closer to Shen Jiu, his hands trailing on the bruised skin. “Wild night?”

Shen Jiu twists away. “Let go of me. I need to change.”

He’s still wearing yesterday’s clothes, but he smells clean. He took a shower before leaving. “You don’t have anywhere to be. You can afford to take a few minutes.”

Xiao Jiu turns toward him. “Are you telling me what to do?”

Now, Yue Qingyuan is shocked, because there was a distinct lack of bite in this rebuke. Obviously, he had been worried for nothing. Shen Jiu enjoyed every minute of his night if he’s still riding the high the morning after. “I wasn’t, but should I? You seemed to have enjoyed it well enough.” It wasn’t rare for things to get a bit rough between them, but, by the look of things, not rough enough.

It does, however, raise some questions. Shen Jiu was meeting Shen Yuan. This can’t be Shen Yuan’s handiwork. Shen Jiu might treat his brother this way, but Shen Yuan himself wouldn’t have the inclination to do so.

He was also meeting Luo Binghe in an encounter Shen Yuan had tried to hide from him. Shen Jiu hadn’t bothered, so his efforts were pointless. Yue Qingyuan had been waiting for Shen Jiu in case things had turned sour and he needed to step in.

Shen Jiu turns to look at him. “Don’t you dare.”

His chest is similarly marred. “How did the talks go?”

“Fine.”

Fine? Xiao Jiu went to negotiate with Luo Binghe regarding his other half’s marital status and things went fine? “Do I have a body to collect?”

Shen Jiu growls under his breath. “If I’d managed to get rid of Luo Binghe, Yuan probably wouldn’t have let me leave untouched.”

He's not exactly untouched “So you two got along.”

“You could say that.”

What could have happened that night for Shen Jiu to return without swearing to kill Luo Binghe? The sex can’t have been that goo-

There’s no way. Not only would Shen Yuan never allow it, but neither Luo Binghe nor Shen Jiu have shown even a flicker of attraction to the other.

It would explain the state Shen Jiu came back home in. It would also make more sense than Shen Jiu leaving the talks and finding someone he trusts enough to handle him this roughly. “Was he good?”

No one but him, and maybe Shen Yuan, would have noticed the tiniest freeze of his face before he answers. “Who?”

“Your brother’s fiancé. Intriguing plan to break them up. I would never have thought Luo Binghe was the type.” If it was anyone else, he’d have suspected Shen Jiu of pretending he was Shen Yuan to cause trouble, but since this is Luo Binghe, too obsessed to be fooled, it would never work.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t.” Yue Qingyuan is not getting involved in that mess. His only loyalty is to Xiao Jiu. If Luo Binghe’s isn’t to Shen Yuan, that’s not his problem up and until it messes with either the family or Shen Jiu.

Really, he’s just disappointed. He genuinely thought Luo Binghe was a better man than this. Shen Yuan does not deserve this betrayal. “Your brother might not forgive you.”

“I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Yue Qingyuan shakes his head. It’s not the first time he witnesses Shen Jiu running to his doom, and it won’t be the last. All he’s learned is that trying to stop him is futile.

All he can do is be there for him when he finally pushes Shen Yuan away for good.

[touchmycoat]

LOL when you said Hero my brain said noooooooooooooo cuz they all died dammit but then you said jmbnh and I perked up considerably :P. That sounds really really cool!!!

YEAH YOU GOT IT LMFAO. i'm gonna try to actually execute this (I hope), so i'm gonna slap the rough first outline under a cut for those who don't want spoilers ;) ;) but you already know where i'm going with this lolololol

Act I: Did you know the Xiu Ya Sword and the Broken Sword were lovers?

The Warrior is brought before the Emperor. Upon presenting the broken Cheng Luan sword, he is allowed to approach within 20 paces. "Did you kill him?" "No. Your Venerable Majesty's decree may have been dead or alive, but all warriors on the jianghu know it's the Emperor's wish to kill the Cheng Luan Sword personally." "Very good. Bring him before me." "Your Venerable Majesty, the Cheng Luan Sword Liu Qingge has escaped his bounds and is on the run." "No matter, Your Majesty, he will come here." "Oh? Why is that?" "Because the only two men to have bested him are here, and his sword lies broken between us."

The Emperor laughs, joyous.

"Very good! But Cheng Luan is not all you brought."

Xiu Ya and the broken Xuan Su swords. The Warrior is allowed to approach within 10 paces.

"How did you do it?"

"Did Your Venerable Majesty know the Xiu Ya Sword and the Broken Sword are lovers?"

-Red-

We get the heavily saturated story of the Warrior going to the Qiong Ding School of Calligraphy. He begs a character: 心, heart. He does so to figure out the Broken Sword's strength, because swordsmanship is embodied in calligraphy. He also fights side-by-side with Xiu Ya Sword, fending off the Emperor's attempt to be rid of the assassins. He gains enough cred from Shen Qingqiu to beg an audience with both Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan.

There the Warrior tells them that Liu Qingge is dead, and that LQG had been confident that YQY, with whom he'd had a one night stand, will avenge him. It's the Warrior's honor to come challenge YQY now. In a fit of jealous rage, SQQ stabs and kills YQY, then goes to battle the Warrior himself. Distraught by emotions, SQQ falls, and the Warrior walks away the victor.

Back in the Palace, the Emperor listens. He says he did know, yes, that the Xiu Ya Sword and the Broken Sword are lovers, but doesn't the Warrior think he's underestimated somebody in this equation? "Whom?" "Me. I've met Yue Qingyuan once, three years ago when he and Shen Qingqiu tried to assassinate me. Even then I could see his complete devotion to SQQ. He would never sleep with anybody else, not if SQQ is still at his side. So everything you said is a lie, except for one thing." "What?" "I think the Cheng Luan sword did know one of you, but I think the one he knew was you."

Act II: I think the Cheng Luan Sword trusted you.

"I think you, Liu Qingge, Shen Qingqiu, and Yue Qingyuan all colluded in order to get you within ten steps of me."

-Blue-

Despite imperial witnesses, Liu Qingge successfully faked his own defeat at the Warrior's blade. The Warrior carried and bound LQG himself. Then the Warrior brings his proposal to SQQ and YQY—he has a killing move as long as he gets within ten steps of the Emperor, so he only needs one of their blood on his hands. SQQ wounds YQY to keep YQY at home and makes himself the sacrifice. YQY does not make it in time to save SQQ but gives the broken Xuan Su to the Warrior anyways, because Xiu Ya and Xuan Su, just like their masters, should always stay together.

"You also gave LQG a way out. All of this is to get within ten steps of me. And now you're here. Tell me, am I wrong?"

"...Only about one thing. Your Majesty has also underestimated somebody."

"Who?"

"The Broken Sword."

Act III: The Broken Sword says you must not be killed.

-White-

Nobody was ever in actual danger. The Warrior did not kill LQG. He also will not kill SQQ or YQY. They only need to fake it for the imperial witnesses.

Only, the Broken Sword says the Emperor must not be killed. Xiu Ya Sword is furious—"You know what he's done to me and my country, yet you let him go three years ago and you'd let him go now. Why?!" But YQY will not say. SQQ vows to help the Warrior and stabs YQY to keep him out of their way.

But as the Warrior heads to the Capital, YQY also gives him Xuan Su. "Do you know why my blade is broken?" "No." "Neither do I. I've never wondered, either, but three years ago, when my blade nicked the Emperor's neck, Xuan Su suddenly sent me a warning."

"A warning about what?"

"A warning that I'll find out. I'll find out what broke my blade if I kill the Emperor, and that's something I want to remain ignorant of no matter the cost. Can you understand that feeling?"

"...Yes, I can."

"Who would have thought, of all the people in the world, it's the Broken Sword who understands me best? You understand it too? Tell me the feeling," the Emperor demands. "What is the thing you don't know, but the thought of knowing it terrifies you?"

"I know I must kill the Emperor," the Warrior states. "I know that he is a tyrant, and he runs a bloody world. I know I must kill him to save us all. What I don't know is why my heart breaks at the thought."

"You know you sound just like a man I used to know," the Emperor sneers. "He too criticized my methods. He too despised me. He too hurt at the thought of hurting me. Do you know why Liu Qingge must die by my hands?"

LQG steps out of the shadows, wounded but ready to kill.

"Because the Cheng Luan Sword took that man from me," the Emperor snarls, pulling his blade.

LQG approaches.

"Pass me Cheng Luan," he tells the Warrior. The Warrior grabs Cheng Luan, but hesitates in the throw. "Shen—!"

The Emperor runs him through. LQG falls dead at their feet. There are less than ten steps between them and the Emperor can kill the Warrior in just as easy a stroke. The Emperor does not.

"Who," the Warrior asks slowly, eyes on the fallen LQG, "is the man you used to know?"

"I don't know."

"I think I do. I think by coming here, I've learned the reason for my heartache."

"I think I have too. I wish you hadn't come. Will you still kill me, Shizun?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do. This is something you've always known."

"...Yes, Your Majesty, I will."

The Emperor takes a deep, shaky breath.

"You didn't let Liu Qingge kill me."

"That's because he couldn't have," the Warrior says sadly. "Only I know how to kill you."

"Well I won't let you!" the Emperor snarls, furious. "I'll cut off your arms so you can never wield a sword again and your legs so you can never run again! You've left me once, I won't let you do it again!"

"Binghe."

The Emperor's eyes go wide, then red. He turns on his heel and takes less than ten steps away. His sword is still in the Warrior's hand.

"This character," he says of the scroll hung behind his seat, the one on which YQY has written heart, "holds the secret to his sword. Is that what you said, Shizun?"

"Yes."

"So many people want to kill me, Shizun. I know why. This too is something I've always known," Luo Binghe says quietly. "What's curious is why there is a man who doesn't want me dead, when my own Shizun will suffer heartbreak itself to kill me. Have you figured it out?"

"Not quite."

"May this disciple examine it?"

"...Of course."

He examines the character for a very long time.

"I see it now!" the Emperor exclaims. "As the Broken Sword understands me, I understand him. In my tyranny, I am strong. I am the only person strong enough to keep this country together. As long as I am alive, his world will keep going. His sword, his brush, his heart—it's all one in the same. It's all right here. Destroy one, you destroy the others."

"When you die, he will die too."

"No, Shizun." Luo Binghe's voice is so, so sad. "When I die, his heart will die too. It's the same for this disciple too. Killing me may bring Shizun heartbreak, but it will destroy my heart completely. Shizun, please. Please don't kill me."

"Turn around, Binghe."

When Luo Binghe turns, Shen Yuan has set LQG's corpse on its back and placed Cheng Luan in LQG's hands. His smile for LBH is sad.

"If you hadn't killed Liu Qingge, I really might have spared you," Shen Yuan says, wielding LBH's sword. "But now that he's gone...Binghe, this Master is sorry to have failed you. But I promise, it'll all be fine. The pain will go away quickly."

"Shizun..."

The sword is at LBH's chest. He thinks that even though it's his sword, he doesn't recognize it at all.

Shen Yuan wipes a tear from LBH's face.

"Binghe," he says, lifting the blade, "silly child. I wouldn't have stabbed you from the back."

He sinks the blade into Luo Binghe's heart. Everything shatters.

//

"Senior Disciple Shen!"

"It's self-destruct!"

"He's killed him! Luo Binghe's killed Senior Disciple Shen!"

Shen Qingqiu's head snaps up to where, in the sky, Shen Yuan's limp body had started to fall. He moves on instinct to go catch Shen Yuan, but he coughs up a violent fit of blood instead, falling back into Yue Qingyuan's arms.

"Xiao Jiu!" There's blood on Yue Qingyuan's lips as well and his face is ashen, but he's clearly been awake for longer than SQQ. "Don't—"

"Save him!" SQQ tries to yell. All of a sudden, a shadow speeds over their heads, catching Shen Yuan's limp body before it could hit the ground.

It's Liu Qingge. He's both furious and panicked. He has the dying Shen Yuan in one arm while in his other arm, he held another body.

"Up," Shen Yuan whispers, fading quickly, "Binghe. Quick, he's waking."

"Take care of yourself first!" Liu Qingge snaps. "I brought the body like you said—"

"Shixiong, please. I promised not to hurt him."

Teeth gritted, LQG launches them all the way up to the center of a miasmic black, where LBH hovers, surrounded by demonic energy. There's an immense blanket of demonic energy lifting from the earth, and people are screaming and running about.

"What's going on?! Where did all this demonic energy come from?!"

"Is he cursing us?!"

"No, no it's going away! Look! Senior Disciple Shen must have done something!"

"Has he saved us?"

LBH's eyes snap open and the first thing he does is attack. LQG just barely blocks the blow with both his arms occupied. There are tears on LBH's face and he's putting out an insane amount of demonic energy. He's screaming as he launches himself at Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan grabs LBH back with the last of his strength, gives LBH a firm but loving shake.

"Binghe!" he demands. "Watch."

LBH freezes and does as he's told. He watches as the last bit of life drains from Shen Yuan's body. He watches as LQG releases Shen Yuan's corpse into his arms. He watches as something goes white at his side, and it's LQG activating an array on the other body.

LBH watches as the pieces of SY's soul find a home again in the second body, which suddenly pulses bright with spiritual power. The body opens its eyes and takes a huge, gasping breath.

"Shen Yuan?" LQG demands to know.

"Shizun...?"

The person in the body lets out a little sigh of relief. He grabs LQG with one hand and LBH with the other.

"See, Binghe?" he chuckles weakly. "I told you it'll all be fine."

He faints.

//

The full story comes at the end. Shen Jiu still gets taken in and abused by Qiu Jianluo, Yue Qi still binds his life to his sword at Cang Qiong. Only, SJ's first strike against QJL mostly misses, and as QJL approaches SJ in fury, another little houseboy—the one who dusts and sweeps and mops but none of the hard work because he was born with a sickly body—holds out his broom and trips QJL. He means for SJ to get away, but SJ kills QJL instead. SJ still sets the house on fire, but he has no idea if the other houseboy got away.

After reuniting with YQY and entering Cang Qiong as a disciple, SJ is working in the field one day when he stumbles on a Master Shang's Medical Emporium. There's an incredible amount of rare flora and fauna in there, all great for cultivators. Intrigued, SQQ investigates and finds the source of all these goods to be a young man named SY—whom he recognizes. He swears SY to secrecy about his past and takes SY to Qing Jing, first to prevent SY from exposing him, but then they grow close. SY is very clever and knows how to make himself useful to SQQ. His level-headedness earns him a spot by seventeen at SQQ's side as senior disciple.

Flash forward to LBH's arrival on Qing Jing. SQQ is still cold and spiteful and petty, but with SY there, LBH is cared for. SY's older than LBH by what, five years? Takes baby!bing under his wing and mitigates the sour relationship between LBH and SQQ. As a joke (but not really), LBH calls SY "Shizun" in private, and SY gets a real kick out of it.

The thing is, SY is still totally a transmigrator. But just like Shang Qinghua, he transmigrated into a baby's body and basically had a whole other life in this world. Seventeen, eighteen years is a very long time to remember a novel you read a lifetime ago. While SQH's life changed, SQH's only a minor character—plus that's the author! Maybe he gets special privileges, while nobody else is allowed to influence the plot in a major way. Scared of potential repercussions, SY trains LBH and gives LBH as many resources on Qing Jing as he can, but does not tell LBH about the upcoming Abyss.

So SQQ still ends up kicking LBH into the Abyss. SY is filled with incredible regret. The relationship between him and SQQ go kind of awry too, but it's still mostly okay because SY knows LBH is not actually dead.

Just to level the playing field though, SY also doesn't tell SQQ that LBH is going to come back for revenge.

All this while, SY and LQG get to meet and become really good friends. Out of friendship comes love—they both crush on each other in a way that's super obvious to everybody else. SY isn't actually a very strong cultivator, but he is a voracious scholar (cough nerd cough) and hunts/forages a lot of wild stuff. LQG accompanies him every time.

Thanks to SY's training, LBH comes back from the Abyss a lot earlier than SY and SQH expected. LBH seeks out SY, but bad timing has him overhearing SY talk about how LBH dying at the Abyss was for the best—LBH assumes it's bc of his demon bloodline, but SY is really just placating other characters. On top of that, LBH finds SY and LQG all couply and lovey-dovey. LBH runs off.

Because why??? Why does everyone he cares about leave him, why does the entire world want him dead??? Even Shen-shixiong, somebody who cared for him, betrays him in the end. SQQ also gets word of LBH's return at around the same time and comes to hunt him down. In classic SQQ fashion, he only makes shit worse for Binghe, and LBH starts using Xin Mo like crazy.

When they get the word, YQY, SY, and LQG go running. SY learns about LBH being taken over by Xin Mo and asks LQG for a favor—go to my hidden lil mushroom grove and grab my spare body for me please? See, SY's physical ailments had him researching ways to clone himself and put himself in a better body. It's untested, but probably successful!! SY sends LQG to go get the body while himself and YQY and SQQ confront LBH.

During the battle, SQQ gets himself seriously wounded to protect Qi-ge. In a fit of fury, YQY unsheathes half of Xuan Su. LBH goes crazier as a response, and SY throws himself on the sword to save LBH from being eaten up by Xin Mo's power.

Believing he's killed the love of his life, LBH blue-screens. Unconsciously, he activates one of the most powerful skills the Dream Demon's taught him—Waking Dream. He plunges the entire mountain into a dream world of his own making. The world freezes, and everybody gets trapped inside LBH's world. They have no memory of this being a dream, but the few of the most powerful cultivators—LQG, SQQ, and YQY—plus the heart of the dream, SY, all manage to retain one critical piece of information.

As long as the owner of the dream dies, they can all be freed.

So in the dream, LBH becomes the Emperor, wielding all his forces to retain his power over his dream country. LQG, SQQ, YQY, and SY become assassins, all scheming to kill him.

YQY came the closest. He only has half of Xuan Su because Xuan Su is fundamentally bound to his life—half of the sword stayed outside in the real world with his body. Inside the dream, YQY and SQQ got to be lovers for years, and SQQ did not hate him. Upon sensing the boundaries of the dream, YQY could not bring himself to kill LBH and shatter the beautiful mirage.

If you die inside the dream, you die in real life—with one exception. If it's the owner of the dream who kills you, you get to go free.

That's what happened with LQG. LQG was still en route with the body, and SY didn't know if he'd make it. So SY was honest in the dream—had LQG remained in the dream with them, SY might really have allowed his baby bing to keep the dream going. He didn't want to hurt LBH with his own death. However, with LQG out of the dream, he knows LQG will probably make it on time with the body to save him. So he kills LBH and gets them all out.

The last scene is qijiu. SQQ is bed-bound. Nobody else has retained memories of the dream, only faint impressions. Only he and YQY know what happened.

SQQ demands to know why YQY refused to kill LBH. YQY explains, and the truth about Xuan Su also comes out. Happy ending happy ending.

SY of course survives. He gets a cool new body and apologizes sincerely for letting LBH get pushed into the Abyss. The plot has obviously changed in a major way already, and whatever happens from now on will just happen, it's fine. And LBH and LQG, his two favorite people in the world, will just have to get along. They'll all be best buds together hahahahahaha.

[exocara]

SV’s Quick Transmigration System

I love system fics and i love clowning shen jiu but i don’t have time to write. 

Shen Jiu’s life was one misery after another.

[Don’t be like that, Host! This is a blessing! You can change your fate!]

Even though Shen Jiu didn’t remember what happened in his life before he entered this Xinghai space, he was absolutely, positively, certain that his life was one misery after another, one calamity following the previous, a neverending shitshow of Bad.

Why else would he be here, after all?

[The sealing of your memories was part of the price that you had agreed to pay in order for the chance to change your fate. The other part is to go through four different worlds and complete the tasks pertaining to each world’s Target given to you, by me, in order to cultivate the Good Karma Points needed to return to your world! I am System Airplane, ready at your service.]

Right… and what if Shen Jiu decided to not cooperate?

[Ahh!! That’s not good, Host! If you don’t cooperate, you’ll be stuck in the Xinghai space forever!]

A tasteless outcome, even more so than the idea of having to do tasks for others.

[You agreed to this…] System Airplane seemed like it was sulking.

“The me of the past may have agreed to this, but I currently do not,” Shen Jiu said petulantly.

[Why are you so difficult!] System Airplane whined. [You’re already stuck here! You can’t get out without completing the worlds! What else can you do?]

What else could Shen Jiu do indeed?

-o-

The man in front of him looked almost breathtakingly familiar, despite the fact that Shen Jiu didn’t have his memories.

It was probably memories that came with the body, like a cheap bargain sale. Buy this and get an additional something else.

It had been around two days since he had arrived in this particular world but System Airplane still had not given Shen Jiu any tasks. Instead, he had tried telling Shen Jiu about the world in general, and who Shen Jiu was supposed to be. Shen Jiu tuned him out, not understanding why he needed to know anything in order to complete his tasks.

Yes, Shen Jiu agreed to the world hopping, but that didn’t mean he was going to be nice about it.

“Xiao Jiu…” the man in front of him said. The name did not sit well with Shen Jiu, and so of course he voiced out his opinions.

“Call me that name again and I will break your fingers.”

[HOST!!! That’s the Target of this world! Why are you being so mean to him!]

Why should Shen Jiu be nice to a man he didn’t know? Speaking of which,

“And who are you again?”

The man looked stricken and then, almost immediately after, guilty.

“I’m sorry, Xiao Jiu,” he said. “I--”

“At least have the courtesy of calling me by my name,” Shen Jiu said. Shen Jiu had forgotten the name he was supposed to assume in this world and was too proud to ask System Airplane about it. This was a good time as any to figure out what that name was.

“...Qiu Qingjiu,” the man said. Wow! What a shitty name.

“Oh second thought just call me A-Jiu,” Shen Jiu said. The man’s entire face seemed to light up with a fragile hope. Shen Jiu’s next words ground that hope into dust.

“Seriously, who the hell are you?”

-o-

The man never told Shen Jiu who he was.

[Host, he is Yue Qingyuan, used to be known as Yue Qi or Qi’ge, and he is your childhood friend! You were in the same orphanage together! When he left the orphanage, he made a promise to come back for you but you waited for five years to no avail! Little did you know, he had gotten into a serious accident and was in a coma and then rehabilitation for those five years and when he came back for you, you weren’t there at all! Then the both of you were -- are currently being actually -- reunited in University! I told you this!]

It must have slipped Shen Jiu’s mind.

[You weren’t listening at all, weren’t you!? It was such a masterfully crafted tale too, perfectly setting up the tumultuous relationship of misunderstanding between the both of you!]

Shen Jiu didn’t care. He just wanted to know what the task was.

System Airplane grumbled about Shen Jiu not being able to appreciate good literature, which was untrue. Shen Jiu was completely able to understand good literature, but not this dogblood shit sort of story. After all, he has been--

What had he been?

Before he could dwell any more on his confusion, System Airplane gave him his task.

--

Task: Join the Literature Faculty Club.

Reward: 5 Good Karma Points

Do you accept?

Yes / Yes

--

Shen Jiu wondered just what his answer would be.

Why was the system giving options if the options were the same?!

[Illusion of choice.]

Fuck you.

-o-

Yue Qingyuan was in the Literature Faculty Club because of course he was. Why had Shen Jiu ever entertained the thought of otherwise?

-o-

When the club meeting ended, Shen Jiu was the first to leave the room.

“Xi-- A-Jiu, wait!”

Shen Jiu didn’t wait. Shen Jiu was gone.

the idea is that shen jiu has to go into 4 different worlds to complete tasks pertaining to a “target”

1st world: yue qingyuan (modern day, rich heir) 2nd world: liu qingge (those space opera things with giant alien insects called zergs) 3rd world: luo binghe (zombie apocalypse)  4th world: mu qingfang (relaxing fantasy world shen jiu is really grateful for)

he has to do nice things for them like help them and save their life. but he gets to be prickly throughout it all which leads to funny ideas like he’s a tsundere and stuff. 

i.e. 2nd world 

sj: i’ll kill you, you asshole. mark my words the first chance you get i’ll absolutely obliterate you  sj: (helps lqg, risks his own life to save lqg, always covering up for lqg’s impulsiveness)  sj: i hate you and you’re dead to me  lqg: h

so later on the “5th” world is the scum villain world where he regains his memory and gets to change his fate of death 

but wait! 

the other 4 people gain memories of their individual world too!  

chaos

as you can tell, the system is airplane bro (lol) and it’s sort of after-canon for the original scum villain story. sometimes system airplane has to do something and so system cucumber has to come and help. one time, there’s system mobei. system mobei is shen jiu’s favorite. he allows shen jiu to kill things. 

other things: 

after sqq returns back to his world: sqq: system i understand why lbh, yqy, and lqg are targets... but why mqf?  system: by popular request

mu qingfang’s world is the most peaceful world sj has ever had. 

friend: sqq behaves as an actual tsundere once by accident bc he found himself reluctantly kind of fond of this peaceful life with this not a complete and total dumbass. for witnessing this mistake he came to actually hate mqf

me: hes so sad he has to die........ but alas the moment he said "its not like i did this for you or anything!!!" with a blush and caught himself, he realized that He Had To Die Right This Instant

Sqq: well around that person i feel like i want to see them happy, i feel troubled when theyre sad, i want to protect them, i want to help them, and i want to spend time with them Mqf: oh... do you want to kiis them? Sqq: (thinks) Sqq: nah Sqq: so what disease have i contracted Mqf: you just want to be their friend? Sqq: Sqq: i see.

(Next day) Sqq found dead in a ditch

can’t contract feelings if you’re dead!